


Green Eyes

by Violet_Nebula



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violet_Nebula/pseuds/Violet_Nebula
Summary: You can't escape your destiny they say. That's especially true if you lost the ability to die a long time ago.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	1. Prologue

"Kweh!"  
His clothes were soaking wet. With one hand he pulled his right boot of and poured the water out. Just as he had pulled his second boot off, his chocobo shook her entire body, hitting her owner with thousands of little droplets.  
He shot the bird an annoyed look.  
"You did this in purpose."  
"Kweh?"  
The chocobo tried to look like the most innocent angel on Gaia. An angel who now had very poofy and very dry feathers, whereas her owner's, otherwise remarkably similar, hair laid flat and wet.  
He should have known that his chocobo was quite playful and couldn't resist dashing right through a waterfall.  
Cloud remembered the bouquet of flowers he was supposed to deliver. It had survived the trip through the waterfall surprisingly well, only a few petals were hanging down. However, the paper it was wrapped in was a lost cause. Cloud fidgeted the paper off and pushed it in his bag, hoping to find a trash can on the way back home. Littering still was a major issue, an issue he didn't want to contribute to.  
Also he was a guest and as a child his mother had taught him to behave. Technically his appearance was far from appropriate even if his customer was most likely unware of his looks. Still, it felt wrong to be standing here in socks, wet as a wash rag and shivering from the chill, cool air.  
Cloud left the chocobo at the entrance, tied to a lone crystal and occupied with reagen greens.

As graceful as one could walk on wet socks, Cloud made his way deeper inside the cave until he reached the platform at the end. He cleared his throat.  
"Strife Delivery Service. I have a bouquet of lilies for Lucrecia Crescent."  
The woman, deep asleep inside a giant crystal, didn't react.  
"It's a gift from the florist, the flowers in question symbolize "Reunion"."  
Again, there was no reaction but Cloud could swear he could hear the faint whisper of a name being called.  
"I'll be honest. As far as I know the two of us are the last living persons with Jenova cells. As long any of us is alive, Sephiroth will be able to return back to life. Sooner or later he will come back."  
Cloud paused.  
"You deserve to know, even if you think differently. Those dreams you had many years ago were no coincidence, he was calling out to those who were injected with Jenova cells like himself."  
"Sephiroth..."  
Now Cloud could make out the name clearly. He laid down the bouquet, the light reflected in the little droplets gave it a beautiful glimmer. Next to it he also put a small box.   
“Yes, he is alive and he is not, he is very durable and persistent just as you predicted.”  
For a split moment the woman’s eyes twitched, subtle but still noticeable.  
“I just wanted to let you know in case you want to meet your son.”  
With these words Cloud left but just before he mounted his chocobo he could hear Lucrecia’s voice from the crystal for the last time.

“Thank you.”


	2. Waterfall

At first she felt the cold.  
Then she heard the noise, the loud waterfall ringing in her ears.   
When she opened her eyes she saw nothing but brightness, despite the dim lit environment.  
She stumbled forward, fell to her knees and stayed in this position until she collected herself.

Lucrecia needed to remind herself how to breath properly, the freezing air felt foreign in her throat. It felt like an eternity until she finally relearned how to take deep breaths. Only then she dared to open her eyes again.  
The light reflected by the crystals still hurt her eyes but at least she could keep them open now. Slowly, her brain adjusted the raging waterfall to an evenly background noise.  
“Just like a comatose patient, waking up after an endless slumber”, her analytical mind told her.  
“Just like a newborn”, her traitorous mind told her.

Her gaze landed on the flower bouquet, pale yellow lilies kept together by a pink ribbon. It was a lovely bouquet but Lucrecia couldn’t help but wonder which florist would send her off all people one. She didn’t know any florists by name and those she knew by face should all be retired by now. Yet, she could feel a presence inside the cave and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was this mysterious florist.  
She picked the flowers up, they had a sweet smell similar to vanilla. It was a very soothing smell and Lucrecia allowed herself to enjoy it just a little longer.  
She noticed a small box next, a simple black box with Strife Delivery Service being printed on the lid. Still on her knees because she didn’t trust her balance yet, Lucrecia opened the box. On the top was a letter for her, below an unfamiliar gadget with numbered buttons.

“Dear Ms. Lucrecia Crescent,   
within the box is a cellphone for you. The code to unlock the screen is 7777. You will find a collection of useful numbers under the contacts list, including the number of Strife Delivery Service and my private number. Unfortunately, cellphones only work if they receive a strong enough signal from the nearest cell phone tower, however the meadow outside the cave does receive the signal from Nibelheim.  
Sincerely,  
Cloud Strife”

Lucrecia followed to instructions and scrolled down the list of names, most of them belonging to inns, transportation services and hospitals. Near the end, another familiar name appeared on the screen.  
“Vincent Valentine”  
She let the phone sink. She was torn whether or not she should call Vincent. She knew they needed to have a long conversation sooner or later, with sooner being the preferred option. Staying silent just caused catastrophes that could never be undone.  
On the other hand, phone calls were impersonal and therefore inappropriate for the kind of discussion she had to have with Vincent. It was very unlikely he knew of Mr. Strife’s visit or else he would have accompanied him just like before.  
Lucrecia also didn’t know if Vincent had a vehicle and she knew she would be unable to walk all the way to Nibelheim herself.  
Carefully, she put the cell phone back in the box.  
On shaky feet, she stood up. She held both, the box and the bouquet, in one hand while supporting herself on the crystalline walls with the second. It felt like an entirety until she finally made it to the entrance.   
It had already gotten dark outside, yet she only felt a slight chill in the air. It was either late spring or early summer at the moment, the meadow in front of the cave was still blooming.  
Then her eyes fell on the slippery, steep path down and at this moment Lucrecia felt every year of her age. Yet, there was no way back.  
It’s not like she could have a fatal accident.

Somehow, with great precision and concentration, she climbed all the way down without falling. Despite sleeping for most of the last 30 years, Lucrecia didn’t remember ever feeling so tired and worn out before. Not during the creation of her doctor’s thesis and not after working overtime for months.  
Her pregnancy might have been a different story.

She sat down on top of a stone next to the lake and pulled the phone out again. The display showed the current time as “20:41”. She went back to the address list and selected the number of the only other person she knew.

The first thing Cloud did when he arrived at the Nibelheim Inn was falling on his bed. The legal procedure behind selling a house had taken much longer than he thought. A few weeks ago, a letter from Rufus Shinra had been sent to him, informing Cloud and Tifa that their reconstructed childhood homes officially belonged to them. After a long discussion they had both decided that they would sell the houses to whoever needed them. The family who bought his was originally from Gongaga and they were glad they finally found an affordable place to live at a quiet village.  
Suddenly his phone rung.

Cloud mentally prepared himself for yet another long-winded discussion with the notary over yet another document.  
To his great surprise and even greater relief, the caller was a very different person.  
“Strife, how can I help you, Miss Crescent?”  
“Good evening.” Her voice sounded a bit horse, whether it was from the chilly wind or from lack of use she wasn’t quite sure.  
“I hope it’s not to much of an inconvenience but could you pick me up? I’m afraid my body has not regained its strength yet.”  
A minute later, Cloud started his motorcycle. 

Lucrecia looked up to the sky.  
The constellations were as bright as they had been 30 years ago. She had always gazed at the stars on a silent night ever since she arrived at Nibelheim. The sky above Midgar had always been dull, the air had been dirty.  
She still sat there, her white dress shimmering in the moon light, with her head turned towards the sky when an engine approached her. 

In Clouds opinion, the resemblance was uncanny. The moon light gave her hair a silver glimmer and her natural bangs framed high cheekbones. She stood up once she heard him, carefully holding the flower bouquet with both hands. Adding her frilly white dress she looked just like a young bride ready to be brought to the nearest church. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Cloud was surprised to notice that Lucrecia Crescent was relatively small. Not as tiny as Yuffie but at least an inch shorter than Tifa. Sephiroth had not only figuratively speaking towered over everyone else, so he had expected his mother to be tall as well.

As they rode back to Nibelheim, Lucrecia was the first to break the silence.  
“Why are you trusting me?”  
“Why shouldn’t I?”  
“I know my son is not a kind person. I can assure you I’m worse.”   
“I trust you because you trust me. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be here wrapping your arms around my waist while I drive at 70 mph.”  
Cloud increased the speed.   
“I can’t argue that.”

It was past midnight when they arrived at the inn. Grumbling, the tired owner handed Lucrecia the key to her room. The idea of having a stranger pay for her, embarrassed her but at the moment Lucrecia did not have a single gil on hand.  
Lying on her bed, she cursed her decision to leave all of her worldly possessions behind. Her bank accounts had most likely been terminated decades ago and she only owned the dress she wore. She didn’t sleep during what little was left of the night, busy calculating her living costs for the next months.  
Lucrecia knew she didn’t need food anymore but to keep up the façade of being a human being she needed both a place to live and maintain a proper appearance.  
The world had changed a lot in the past decades, but in which direction she didn’t know. She wondered if there was still space for a scientist specializing in materia.  
As much as she loathed it, Lucrecia had no way of predicting how the meeting with her son would play out if she it was ever going happen in the first place.  
But she’ll be damned if she didn’t provide him a home to come home to.


	3. Chapter 3

Sephiroth had used his remaining cells to create another host, a lifeless mannequin. Without mother’s precious cells it was completely useless to him however, so he let the body drift through the lifestream until it was washed ashore. Jenova cells had become sparse, Sephiroth only counted two living specimen on the entire world. His three previous larvae had had a mind on their own so they could move freely. In the end Kadaj choose to become one with the life stream and his brothers quickly followed.  
Sephiroth had been been bested again by the last cetra who acted like mother his the three larvae. It drove his madness, it drove his envy. To make matters worse, she even managed to disable the Jenova cells inside the geostigma victims. 

To spark his anger even further, Cloud had not responded yet.  
The second carrier had never responded to his call in the first place nor changed locations. It didn’t surprise Sephiroth though, he had seen enough of Hojo’s failed experiments to get an idea of the shape this person was in.  
If there was any person left to begin with.

Yet, after more than seven years, the second person came back to life. He could now tell it happened to be a woman. While Sephiroth was still unable to enter her minds, to his delight, the woman traveled towards him. Within a few weeks, she managed to locate his empty body.  
Just a single drop of blood proved to contain enough of mother’s cells. 

Sephiroth’s third return to the world of the living was quite different from the previous times.  
For once, he wasn’t conscious.  
Not only was his body not responding, his mind was caught in feverish dreams. It felt like part of it was still inside the life stream and part of it was trying to regain consciousness. Sometimes he could hear tidbits of a voice. Sometimes he could see a flicker of light.  
Another part of him tried to summon magic, just to destroy something. It was futile.

Then Sephiroth decided to open his eyes.  
He blinked a few times to adjust his irises. There was a wood ceiling above him. He didn’t like it.  
He loathed it.  
Leaving the life stream he was supposed to wake up either under the sky or inside a cave. Instead he was inside a building he didn’t remember entering.  
Sephiroth loathed situations that weren’t under his control. Far too long he had been controlled, stripped off his destiny to be the one in control. He was born to be a god, yet he felt as if he was a feeble human.  
While his mind was raging, his body was surprisingly warm and comfy. He laid on a mattress and he was tucked under a blanket that ended under his chin. His feet were sticking out as they did with most standard blankets.  
Sephiroth glanced to his right and spotted a rustical window. Outside the night was dying, dawn slowly crept closer. He glanced to his left and could make out the contours of a sparsely decorated room.  
He pushed his upper body up, something that took far too long for his liking. Sephiroth stared outside as the sun slowly rose above endless meadows.  
It was what he imagined to be a typical morning for a human specimen in its natural environment.  
Except he wasn’t human. 

Now that he collected himself, Sephiroth knew for certain he wasn’t alone in this house. The woman was there as well, just waking up herself. Sephiroth relaxed.  
Everybody but a follower of his would have strapped him to an iron table if they felt generous. Most likely they would have put him in heaviest chains they could find.  
His followers usually had a very unpredictable way of acting as they lacked any form of common sense. They dived straight into the open ocean and tended to get swept away by tornados they ran straight into. The woman had most likely been a regular human as well and had thus brought him to a regular house without giving much thought about it.  
Again, he tried to access her memories but all he saw was a distorted mako glow.

Sephiroth didn’t bother turning around when the woman entered the room. She stopped at the door way and clapped her hand in front of her mouth.  
“Oh, Sephiroth! You’re finally awake!”  
Joy. Sorrow. Shock. Surprise.  
He was hit by a wave of emotions and quickly retreated from her mind.  
Love.  
That was one was a memory.

He faced the woman. Her eyes had the green mako glow so similar to his own. Her long hair reached down to her knees and her bangs framed high cheekbones. Despite being visibly distraught and in her sleepwear, she still managed to have a certain elegance in her posture.  
“My dear Sephiroth…”  
Said man almost gaped at the word “dear” being attached to his name. The great Sephiroth was a phrase he was used to but nobody in his entire life had ever used the word “dear” in combination with him.  
“Why? Why are you referring me as dear?”  
The woman gasped loudly at the sound of his voice before answering: ”Because you are my dear. My dearest person in this entire world.”  
“Why? I don’t even know your name. We never met be-“  
He stopped.  
Love.  
That one was a shared memory. Hazy and distorted but shared nevertheless. While he didn’t have any memory of this woman she clearly remembered him.  
“It’s true. You don’t know me.”  
“How should I call you?”  
She straightened herself.  
“That’s yours to decide. Whatever you call me will be what I deserve to be called.”  
Sephiroth started to loose his little patience. On one hand she was honest with him, on the other she hid something significant from him.  
“What’s your first name then?” The question was almost a snarl.  
“Lucrecia.”  
“So, Lucrecia, tell me, where are we?”  
“On the Western Continent, this was once an abandoned farmhouse. You were unconscious and developed a high fever, so I brought you here.”  
The woman must have noticed her short answers drove Sephiroth mad or else she wouldn’t have added the extra information unprompted. Still, said information was not in his favor. The fact he could develop a fever meant he lost a good fraction of his power.  
He wasn’t human, he lost the ability to die years ago.  
Sephiroth noticed how thirsty he was. He had forgotten how thirst felt like, the scratchy feeling crept down his throat.  
He coughed, multiple times. Enough times that Lucrecia left her spot and ran besides him.  
“Are you alright? Shall I bring you some water?”  
He glared at her, she stared at his green eyes with their feline irises. As every other human, Lucrecia was taken aback by them at first but her gaze softened quickly.  
“I’ll be back in a minute.”

Sephiroth tried to yell at her that he did not require something as simple as water and even if, he could pick up a single glass by himself but another coughing fit prevented him from doing so.  
Only now he noticed that was clad in pajamas rather than his heavy leather coat. They were black and made out of silk and not unlike the ones he used to wear years ago.  
He sighed.  
His plan to destroy the world had to wait until he managed to track down a proper SOLDIER uniform. Sephiroth had his standards and a carefully planned appearance was part of them.

A knock echoed through the room, Sephiroth ignored it.  
“May I come in?”  
He nodded slightly.  
“I’m above human needs.”  
Lucrecia put the glass down next to him.  
“Frankly, I highly doubt this.”  
Sephiroth gave her a single cold laugh.  
“Hah, you should know the extent of Jenova’s power yourself. After all we are both of the same kind.”  
Sadness. Sorrow.  
“Unless you lock yourself in crystalline mako, your body will still require energy in order to function”, Lucrecia explained in a silent voice, avoiding to look into his face.  
With a single motion, Sephiroth grabbed the glass and drank its content. The cold liquid washed away most of the scratchiness inside his throat. Without a word he handed it back to Lucrecia and turned back to the window. The sun had now risen completely, revealing a summery landscape.  
“Just call me if you want breakfast. I’ve many things I have to tell you once you’re ready.”  
Just before Lucrecia left, Sephiroth muttered two words.  
“Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

"Coffee or tea?"  
Sephiroth gave her a blank expression. The contents of his breakfast had never been his own decision. He had always consumed whatever was offered to him, in the appropriate order of course. The old president Shinra had always held proper etiquette in high regard, for anybody but himself of course.  
Naturally Shinra's most famous science project had had to learn the rules of high society as well. He had aced the dancing classes, after all they were not to different from material arts. Dinning rules had never been much of an issue either as had none of the other subjects, except one.  
He had dreaded conversation.

Only talk when being talked to had been one of the first rules hammered into his mind. Only say things that are meaningful was the second. For the most part during his childhood Sephiroth’s interaction was limited to him answering questions of scientists and teachers.  
Conversations had turned those rules upside down. He had to initiate them himself, but only with appropriate people. He was not supposed to reveal any classified information yet every second of his life was practically classified information. Classical theatre was considered a safe topic but he quickly discovered he hated talking about “Loveless” even more than listening to it.  
He could vaguely recall a single person who ever asked him to pick from a set of different kind of teas. That had been Palmer, who had always forgot everything around him whenever he had a cup of tea in front of his nose. Absent minded, he had rattled a total of 15 different names off before noticing to whom he had talked.

“You can also have juice if you wish or plain water. Whatever suits your tastes.“  
Sephiroth failed to remember what his favourite flavour was. He had had his likes and dislikes concerning food and beverages but now he had forgotten about them. These memories he had deemed unimportant and he had left them within the lifestream.  
“What do you recommend?”  
Lucrecia blinked in surprise.  
“Well, that depends on what you wish to eat.”  
Sephiroth sighed in frustration. Before him laid a rather vast variety of different foods. There was a bowl full of different fruits, sliced bread and Lucrecia had put eggs and ham right next to a frying pan.  
He could barely recall what any of these options tasted like or what their texture was like.

“Make your pick first.”  
“If you wish...”  
Lucrecia took a yogurt out of the fridge and mixed it with strawberries. Then she put a kettle under the water tap.  
“I’m making myself jasmine tea, would you like some as well?”  
“Yes.”  
Even though he only saw her back, he knew she was smiling as she filled the kettle with water. She stopped smiling once she noticed Sephiroth’s plate was still empty while the tea still steeped and Lucrecia had already finished eating herself.  
“Do you not like any of these? I hope we don’t have to go over the nutrition discussion again.”  
He only grunted in response. Then he picked few fruits and placed them on his plate, carefully avoiding meeting her gaze. The tone of Lucrecia’s voice had shifted dramatically on the last sentence, sounding at least twice as old as previously.   
Sephiroth was close to storming off but, much to his further frustration, he would most likely fall over before reaching the door. While his muscles and nerves technically still were in the prime condition they had been before he fell into the mako reactor in Nibelheim, his balance was not. Also he was indeed low on energy, he was tired and worn out despite all the sleep he had gotten. One by one he slowly consumed some grapes and strawberries. 

A steaming cup of tea was placed next to him.   
“Here you are.”  
He mouthed a “Thank you” and proceeded to bring the cup up to his lips. It wasn’t a smell that triggered any memories but it was pleasant nevertheless.   
“Wait, the tea is still hot!“  
Lucrecia warning was a few seconds too late and Sephiroth hissed in pain. He glared at the tea cup in his hand that he had miraculously managed to not drop and then he glared at her.  
Lucrecia didn’t say a single word but Sephiroth could read both her mind and her expression like an open book.   
“You need to slow down.”

“You know Sephiroth, you could to tell me more about yourself.”  
“Why? I don’t know you.”  
“Fine”, Lucrecia clapped her hands together. “We take turns in asking each other questions. You can start.”  
Sephiroth threw his head back and observed the ventilator. He wondered if he could break into her mind as he could break into Cloud if he knew more than Lucrecia’s first name. He could need a little exercise now that Cloud had become sturdier.

“What’s your last name?”  
“Crescent.”  
“Sounds like a name from Midgar.”  
“Yes indeed, but it’s my turn. Did you grew up in Midgar?”  
“For the most part, yes. Do you still have family in what’s left of Midgar?”  
“No, my parents passed away decades ago and I’m an only child.”  
At that point, Sephiroth was slightly thrown of the loop. He had assumed Lucrecia to be around 30 years old which must have made her an orphaned child if her parents had passed away more than 20 years ago. Yet, the way she talked about her parents death gave the impression she had already been an adult back then.

“Did you enjoy working for Shinra?”  
“I did not merely work for Shinra, I lived for Shinra, breathed for this company. I didn’t mind the SOLDIER project though. Am I right to assume you worked for Shinra?”  
“Yes, I was a scientist for Shinra.”  
Slowly, Sephiroth could piece the puzzle together. Hojo had frequently used his own scientists for experiments if he had thought their vitals were more interesting than the papers they submitted. That would explain why Lucrecia was a stranger to him but not the other way around. Still, by the time he was assigned to SOLDIER he had memorized every member of the science department by name.  
“What would you like to have for dinner?”  
Sephiroth looked at Lucrecia in disbelief, while she shrugged her shoulders.  
“I’m not cooking up an entire buffet if I can just ask you.”  
“Prepare whatever you can cook best.”  
“Any food intolerances?”  
“That’s a second question.”  
“Merely an extension of the first.”  
“No. How old are you?”  
Lucrecia took a deep breath.  
“As for today, I am 62 years old.”  
Sephiroth slightly shook his head as she continued talking.  
“Like you Sephiroth, I stopped ageing. I know for a fact you should be 35 yet you still look the same as you did in your mid-twenties.”  
“Huh, how comes you are so certain about my age?”  
For a solid two minutes, she remained silent and just looked at him. Her face displayed a multitude of contrasting feelings.  
“I gave up my humanity a few months before your birth.”  
“Congratulations, for one of Hojo’s early involuntary guinea pigs you are surprisingly intact. If you’re up for revenge you’re a bit too late, that old fool bit the dust.”  
“Oh, you’re mistaking. I am my own guinea pig, I used myself as a test subject.”

Sephiroth’s mood dropped and ice old rage washed upon him. Until now, he had held back when trying to enter Lucrecia’s mind. He had developed sympathy towards her, he even grew to like her to some degree.  
Sephiroth understood the unspoken words crystal clear. Lucrecia did not just performed experiments on herself, she had performed them on others as well. She had tampered with mother’s cells and she had tampered with his own as well. After all Sephiroth could detect his very own cells in her body. 

He stood up, towering over her, closed his eyes and dived straight into her mind. He searched his way through over thirty years of distorted sounds and lights.   
“I’m sorry.”  
“I want to hold him just once.”  
“What have I done?”  
Here and there he stumbled upon a few phrases. Then, there was their one shared memory, still hazy. He could make out blinding lights, the smell of blood and sweat and many screams.   
Also endless joy and endless sorrow.   
Sephiroth decided to break into her mind even further, working his way until her early childhood. A little girl pretending marbles are materia, a little girl running around her mother’s feet. He skipped further. A middleschooler surrounded by books, a perfectionist who beats herself over a 99 out of 100 score. A young scientist watching her mentor die after a tiny miscalculation. 

Sorrow. Love. Sorrow. Love. 

He blacked out and his knees gave in. Lucrecia caught him, luckily standing right next to the wall or else his weight would have taken her down as well.   
“Sephiroth, what are doing?”  
She yelled at him, full of worry but also anger. Her voice was ringing in his ears as his left hand searched for the wall to support himself. He opened his eyes and found himself staring right into Lucrecia’s that were so similar.  
Not just their eyes matched. The way their otherwise straight hair parted in the middle was identical, so were the bridges of their nose and the high cheekbones. 

“We are the same.”


	5. Chapter 5

Technically, it did feel like a vacation if you forgot about the fact that you were trying to babysit a literal calamity.  
To be more technical, the calamity in question was babysat by his own mother but they had insisted on installing bugs and cameras all over the house just in case. Sephiroth had a track record of spontaneously mutating into a bizarre and macabre monster.

Cid blew smoke rings up in the air, enjoying the early morning on top of the Shera, the airship not his wife of the same name. It was his first cigarette of many today and I was only a matter of time until yet another engineer would ask him for advise.  
It also felt a bit like the quest to save the planet five years ago. Most of the folks who had been on the Highwind were now on the Shera. Barret had decided to bring his daughter Marlene on board as well after Cid could convince him that the airship was one of the most safest places on the entire planet. Cloud and Tifa’s child, Denzel, was on board as well, albeit without his guardians.   
Sephiroth could still sense Cloud’s location, so the latter had decided to stay away from the group for the time being. Tifa had then announced that Cloud was in dire need of a vacation nevertheless and so was she herself. The general gossip on the airship had come to the conclusion there was more to it.  
To hell with all of this gossiping was all Cid thought about this. The two had deserved their break more than everyone else.

Yuffie stretched and let out a yawn after waking up. As long as the air ship was safely locked on the ground, the bunk beds were quite cozy. At least they were much more comfortable than bath room tiles.   
She couldn’t resist boobing Nanaki’s nose, sneaking up on silent feet towards his sleeping body. He huffed in annoyance, opened his good eye and rolled it dramatically after spotting the culprit. The subtle twitching of his burning tail betrayed he was happy to see her nevertheless.

Cait Sith watched.  
Next to him Barret was showing Marlene and Denzel how to properly fry eggs. He tapped one against the rim of the pan, opened it carefully and let the yolk slid out. Then it was the kids’ turn.   
Vincent watched the same scene.  
Barret had discovered the older man couldn’t cook. It wasn’t just that Vincent couldn’t prepare a three-course meal because most people couldn’t. No, Vincent couldn’t even make himself a simple dinner without burning it to crisps.  
When he had been a teenager he had visited a border school in which the kitchens were off-limits for the students. Once he had joined the Turks, food had always been provided by Shinra. The fact that half of the technology used in kitchens was invented during the time Vincent slept inside a coffin further complicated things. That, and the fact that even in his twenties he had been the person contend with microwaving cold coffee during night shifts. At some point in Nibelheim, Lucrecia had started cooking for two persons, arguing he needed more nutrition than a mere cup of coffee. Lucrecia had been and still was a phenomenal chef, after all the essence of cooking was chemistry.

“Hey, Vincent. Mind taking over the pans, while the kids and me get some plates? “  
“Sure.”  
Barret had been kind enough to keep Vincent’s secret to himself after he had noticed how flustered the older man had gotten over it. After getting a good laugh on how prestigious education failed to include life skills.

Cait Sith watched.  
The surveillance data from the old farmhouse was sent to his circuits. As the sun started to rise, he was suddenly camera lens to eye with Sephiroth. He watched him raising slowly and staring out of the window as the early sunlight tinted his hair in a fiery orange.  
“Sephiroth woke up.”  
For a moment, the frying eggs were the only sound.   
“Excuse me?”  
“Now he’s showing me his back. I think Lucrecia is about to wake up as well.”  
Vincent took the pans of the stove before staring at Cait Sith with wide eyes. Last time Sephiroth had almost stirred awake he had managed to unleash a Thundaga in his room. The materia in question had been summoned from a bracelet Lucrecia had kept on the opposite side of the house. There were still marks on the wood now covered by rearranged furniture.  
“We should alarm the group.”  
Cait Sith shook his head.  
“Not yet. Our silver soldier is not showing any signs of destructive behavior at the moment. He seems to be confused above anything else. No reason to spoil breakfast. Don’t worry, I’ll trigger the emergency alert should anything change.”

“We are the same.”  
Lucrecia nodded without breaking eye contact.  
“Indeed, we are the same.”  
Then her eyebrow furrowed, mimicking his own expression except she wasn’t smiling. Instead her lips were a thin line.   
“Stop invading my mind, young man”, she said sternly. She was still holding him but loosened her grip. Sephiroth placed his right hand on hers as they parted.  
“How were you created?”  
Lucrecia paled visibly due to phrasing and his for once innocent tone.   
“I wasn’t created. I was born to my parents like everyone else.”  
“We are not like anybody else. You should know that best yourself.”  
Then Sephiroth turned around, dragging Lucrecia behind him as he made his way to the veranda. A soft blaze brushed through their long hair.  
“Look. This planet, no, the entire cosmos is mine to rule on mother’s behalf.”  
“On mother’s behalf…“, Lucrecia whispered in disbelief. She went still, like a stone statue as Sephiroth continued speaking.  
“Believe me, it will be benevolent for this dying planet to be released of its agony. Jenova knows best. Mother knows best.”  
Sephiroth turned to Lucrecia only to find her with vacant eyes as if all life had been drained out off her.  
“You don’t have to worry, Lucrecia. You can still have a place on this new planet. We both know you don’t have a place in this world anymore. ”  
“Mother knows best…” she repeated shakily.  
“Indeed. Let go off your past, off the old memories that haunt you.”

Then, suddenly, Lucrecia pulled her arm out of his grip and stormed back into the house. Sephiroth cursed under his breath, for a moment he had almost managed to break through her mental barrier. As for most of his “clones” the word “mother” had resulted in a strong emotional reaction from Lucrecia. Considering her own mother had passed away, she shouldn’t had issues with regarding Jenova as her new mother. Until now, the clones that had resisted Sephiroth the most were those with a strong bond to their family, their beloved ones the clones were attached to.  
Cloud had slipped away more and more from him the more tight-knit he had become with his comrades, his friends, his family. It sparked his anger, it fueled his envy.   
Lucrecia didn’t have any family, any comrades, any friends in this world. She was fully devoted to him, that was without a doubt.  
Sephiroth closed his eyes and let the wind play with his hair. He had all time of both of their immortal lives to fully break into Lucrecia’s mind. 

Sephiroth found her by the sink, washing dishes and not acknowledging him as he entered the room. His own plate was still on the table, shaming him for eating so little. He fetched himself a few fruits from the bowl, assuming they had the most nutritional value for him. The faster he recovered his strength the faster he could focus on his devine task. Still, there was another inconvenience he needed to get rid off.  
“I want to change. Did you prepare any clothes for me? Anything more appropriate than sleepwear.”  
“Inside the attic in your bedroom”, Lucrecia replied mechanically.  
“Thank you”, Sephiroth muttered as he climbed the stairs, more to himself than to anybody else.

To his disappointment, the wardrobe lacked a long black leather coat. Sephiroth spotted both pants and a pair of sturdy leather boots that were to his liking but not a single shirt. Granted, Sephiroth always had an aversion towards shirts and preferred wearing none most of the time. He also preferred to maintain a certain class as well and therefore running around half naked wasn’t an option. In the end he went with a simple dress shirt that at least looked elegant even it was leagues below his majestic coat.

When Sephiroth returned to the basements minutes later, Lucrecia was still washing the dishes and he could swear she was cleaning the exact same plate as earlier.   
“You should stop Lucrecia or else your hands look like your actual age.”  
She halted her movements and put the plate aside.  
“I guess you’re right.” Then she studied her hands carefully. “You know Sephiroth, if it wasn’t for you I would have forgotten already I’m 62.”  
He recalled their little question game from earlier and how it fit with the memories he saw inside her mind. Slowly an the unfinished puzzle that was her past started to form a shape. Screams and the smell of blood combined with never-ending joy and sorrow.

“Lucrecia, I wonder…”, he mused. She perked up and slowly turned into his direction. When their eyes met Sephiroth continued speaking.  
“Do you have children?”  
Her eyes widened in terror. Then they became soft.   
“I’m afraid, I can not tell you the answer to this question, Sephiroth. I am the wrong person.”  
Said man huffed in disbelief. “Who is the person to answer the question of your own motherhood if not you?“  
Lucrecia walked right up to him, her gaze still soft.

“You are, Sephiroth.”


End file.
